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contributor to military thought as well as the Army’s experts in
providing material solutions.
To that end, I will be providing a series of papers that outline
my thoughts and guidance as the assistant secretary of the Army
for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)). I believe
senior leaders must provide a clear picture of their vision. We
are very fortunate to have like-minded leadership in the secre-
tary, undersecretary, chief of staff and vice chief of staff. All agree
that we must work together to quickly advance our overmatch
capabilities.
Let me, then, provide foundational concepts for achieving such
an operationally oriented approach to acquisition and the culture
into which we must transform.
1. Acquisition reform. Our secretary, Dr. Mark T. Esper,
has outlined several initiatives to promote unity of effort,
focused effort and measurable progress. Unity of effort
drives the establishment of a single command structure
that, in turn, drives modernization from concept to full
DOTMLPF-P [doctrine, organization, training, mate-
riel, leadership, personnel, facilities and policy] delivery to
the warfighter in a timely enough manner to make a differ-
ence. This is the objective of the Army Futures Command.
The secretary and the chief of staff have made it clear that,
for the remainder of their tenure, the top six priorities—long-
range precision fires, next-generation combat vehicle, future
vertical lift, the Army network, air and missile defense and
Soldier lethality—will not change and shall be the focus of
the Army’s modernization strategy. Cross-functional teams
are the primary mechanism to ensure consistency of progress
against known areas requiring development. Measurable
progress on the acquisition component of these priorities has
already begun as the ASA(ALT) implements an evolvable
tracking system. My direction is to avoid any new require-
ment for data input and, instead, to leverage what exists and
to consolidate the data in a manner that will provide insights
necessary at the senior level. My objective is to enable our
workforce to achieve, not to second-guess it.
2. Accelerated fielding. It is clear that we need a more respon-
sive acquisition system to meet the needs of our Soldiers
on time. Let me share with you my experience in this area.
Following the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001, the Army found
itself fighting terrorists who effectively employed improvised
devices and commercial technologies against our forces in
Afghanistan. The formal acquisition process, still in place
today and taking an average of 12 years to field a system,
could not respond expediently.
In May 2002, I was “afforded” the opportunity to take robots
into combat by forming a small team that integrated Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency robots with government
and commercial off-the-shelf items. In only 28 days, we took
them into the caves of Afghanistan rather than sending Sol-
diers with grappling hooks and grenades. Robots are now
broadly used in combat operations. Perhaps more importantly,
this instigated the Army and DOD’s rapid acquisition model.
There have been many years in which “rapid” acquisition was
seen as an exception to “real” acquisition. We cannot afford
“real” acquisition if it is going to take 12 years or even six years.
Our adversaries have revised their Cold War processes to lever-
age the ever-increasing availability of technology. We must do
THINKING BIGGER
THAN THE BIG FIVE
An AH-64 Apache helicopter with the12th
Combat Aviation Brigade and M1 Abrams
tanks from the 1st Infantry Division secure an
area during an exercise in March at Grafen-
woehr Training Area, Germany. The Army’s
modernization strategy seeks to accelerate
development of technological and operational
capabilities that will improve on its “Big Five”
weapon systems, which have received only
incremental upgrades over time. (U.S. Army
photo by Spc. Hubert D. Delany III, 22nd
Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)
8 Army AL&T Magazine
April-June 2018
ADVANCING ACQUISITION